Public meeting about health services for Cashmere and Spreydon residents

Wednesday August 17, 2016

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Cashmere and Spreydon residents will have a chance to find out what's happening with health facilities in their area at a public meeting being held on Tuesday 23 August.

David Meates, Canterbury DHB chief executive says a meeting was needed after some confusion had recently been created within the community as part of a Community Board member's election campaign.

"This has created a number of unrealistic expectations and a lot of confusion with regard to how we plan and fund health services for the entire Canterbury population. We hope this meeting will provide the opportunity to set the record straight."

Mr Meates says The Princess Margaret Hospital (TPMH) sustained significant damage in the February 22 earthquake. "The level of damage was a major reason for fast-tracking the new Burwood facility and the move to the new corporate offices

at 32 Oxford Terrace," he says. "The DHB has been very open and transparent about the future of our facilities and the TPMH site."

Mr Meates says while TPMH was the main site for Older Persons Health for the Canterbury population from Kaikoura to Ashburton, it's never had emergency or general practice services and it had very limited outpatient and private x-ray services.

"The Christchurch South suburbs have a multitude of general practice and community health providers in the immediate vicinity, offering services from blood testing to pharmacy and physiotherapy," he says.

"At the public meeting we will be discussing how the Canterbury Health System operates and talk about challenges and opportunities ahead. We'll talk about the services still based at The Princess Margaret Hospital along with the time-frame for the Board to make decisions on the future of the TPMH site."

The public meeting is at the Cashmere Club, 50 Colombo Street from 7pm until 8pm, with tea and coffee available from 6:45pm on Tuesday 23 August 2016.